As someone who laments the passing over of certain subclasses in the final publication of Bigby’s Glory of the Giants, I was quite pleased with the “Rune Shaper” feat (and by extension, the “Rune Carver” background).
I get some major headaches when selecting a spellcasting class at early levels; because there are a multitude of nice 1st Level spells that are simply not available to certain classes (which, in all honest, is a good balance).
But the “Rune Shaper” feat exists as a great balm for my spellcasting woes…now some solid 1st Level spells can be made available to certain classes that would otherwise not have them.
”Inflict Wounds” on a Bard… “Command” on a Wizard… “Entangle” on a Warlock, etc…
The “Comprehend Languages” is useful in a pinch, too.
I also dig the flavor of just carving / painting runes on objects to evoke the effect.
It should also be noted that there may be some pretty potent options available for existing classes with these spells…off the top of my head, having “Armor of Agathys” on an Abjuration Wizard makes them pretty sturdier than they were before.
Not getting any boost to spellcasting stats is a decent trade-off for versatility…and “if” you’re okay with using the “Rune Carver” background, you can gain this versatility during character creation.
Overall, a solid feat. I’m already concocting character ideas.
My ONLY complaint about this fun and flavorful feat is that I think it should be 1/2 Prof Bonus (Rounded UP) instead of 1/2 Prof Bonus (Rounded Down).
As they keep pointing out, most campaigns that they release and that people play stop around level 10 or 11. That means you will only ever get 1 Rune to carve until level 9 when you get your second. Rounding up, you get your second Rune at level 5, when martials are getting a second attack. And really, it's simply a free use of a 1st level spell. so it's not exactly overpowered. I think in any game I DM I would Homebrew it to being Rounded UP so that players can feel the feat grow a bit more with them.
Could those runes be cheesed for classes to get Spells outside of their base list? Sure, but there are already a bunch of ways to do that so its not exactly throwing a massive monkey wrench into anything.
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As someone who laments the passing over of certain subclasses in the final publication of Bigby’s Glory of the Giants, I was quite pleased with the “Rune Shaper” feat (and by extension, the “Rune Carver” background).
I get some major headaches when selecting a spellcasting class at early levels; because there are a multitude of nice 1st Level spells that are simply not available to certain classes (which, in all honest, is a good balance).
But the “Rune Shaper” feat exists as a great balm for my spellcasting woes…now some solid 1st Level spells can be made available to certain classes that would otherwise not have them.
”Inflict Wounds” on a Bard… “Command” on a Wizard… “Entangle” on a Warlock, etc…
The “Comprehend Languages” is useful in a pinch, too.
I also dig the flavor of just carving / painting runes on objects to evoke the effect.
It should also be noted that there may be some pretty potent options available for existing classes with these spells…off the top of my head, having “Armor of Agathys” on an Abjuration Wizard makes them pretty sturdier than they were before.
Not getting any boost to spellcasting stats is a decent trade-off for versatility…and “if” you’re okay with using the “Rune Carver” background, you can gain this versatility during character creation.
Overall, a solid feat. I’m already concocting character ideas.
My ONLY complaint about this fun and flavorful feat is that I think it should be 1/2 Prof Bonus (Rounded UP) instead of 1/2 Prof Bonus (Rounded Down).
As they keep pointing out, most campaigns that they release and that people play stop around level 10 or 11. That means you will only ever get 1 Rune to carve until level 9 when you get your second. Rounding up, you get your second Rune at level 5, when martials are getting a second attack. And really, it's simply a free use of a 1st level spell. so it's not exactly overpowered. I think in any game I DM I would Homebrew it to being Rounded UP so that players can feel the feat grow a bit more with them.
Could those runes be cheesed for classes to get Spells outside of their base list? Sure, but there are already a bunch of ways to do that so its not exactly throwing a massive monkey wrench into anything.